In 1815, Franz Schubert composed 20
songs to texts by Gotthard Ludwig Kosegarten. Research by Morten Solvik reveals that these
songs may have been composed as a unified whole and arranged in a particular sequence.
This conclusion is founded on a variety of codecological, textual, and musical evidence
and can be summarized as follows: the fair copies of these songs were at one time gathered
together and the texts of the individual lieder when placed in the order of the fair
copies tell the ultimately tragic story of an amourous adventurer and his broken-hearted
mistresses. All of this is clearly supported by Schubert's use of key areas, head motives
and other self-conciously employed musical devices.by Morten Solvik
A synopsis of the song cycle
by Morten Solvik